I decided that it is time to upgrade to a 'real' DSLR and I have settled on the D5100. I say real because I have owned a Sony Alpha for the last few years and while I love it I know that Sony is sort of frowned upon by the pros (which I am anything but) and not a leader in the industry. Regardless of all of that my main reason for wanting a different camera is lenses - finding good quality lenses for the Sony is next to impossible. I hope to have better luck with a Nikon. Which leads me to my question. I am looking at the pre-packaged D5100 body and 18-55 & 55-300 lenses here
What is the quality of the Nikkor AF lenses? And would I be better off to get the body and lenses separately?

Personally I love Nikons products! You'll save a hell of a lot more money by looking at http://www.keh.com/
The link you posted for your choice is about 1000 bucks where as you could save about 2 to 3 hundred for the same camera and lens together from my link. I have bought multiple items from them and highly recommend them!

Personally I love Nikons products! You'll save a hell of a lot more money by looking at http://www.keh.com/
The link you posted for your choice is about 1000 bucks where as you could save about 2 to 3 hundred for the same camera and lens together from my link. I have bought multiple items from them and highly recommend them!

i have a D90 and i got the kit with the 55-200. i love the kit lens and i will probably pick up the 18-55 on ebay one of these days. i would choose the 18-55 over the 55-300 because of speed. i don't have any first hand experience with the long lens but i have heard it is pretty slow for everyday use so if you don't have any other glass it may be annoying to have to deal with that big-ass slow(ish) lens. you can probably find both kit lenses at a camera shop and see if either suits you. a big thing to consider us weight. the 55-300 is pretty big.

aside from the 55-200 i bought a 30mm and 50mm prime lenses. you don't really need two but you should definately pick of one of these. the 50 is one of the cheapest lenses out there (not the 1.4) and it's super fast and tons of fun to shoot.

I left my Nikon D70 and two lenses in a cab when I got back from my trip to Miami. Never got it back so just purchased a new Nikon D7000 so looking forward to using it. You will not be disappointed with the Nikon. I went with the AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR lense as it was a good all around lens to begin with. Have to start all over but plan on getting a zoom lens in the future.

Hope you enjoy it and look forward to seeing your pictures in the photography thread.

Only thing about that body is if you decide to get a cheap fast prime (50mm f/1.8) you will not have auto focus due to the fact that that lens does not have an AF motor, and neither do the low end Nikon bodies.

Now Its been a while since I was researching DSLR's so this may have changed but that is one reason I decided to go canon.

i have a D90 and i got the kit with the 55-200. i love the kit lens and i will probably pick up the 18-55 on ebay one of these days. i would choose the 18-55 over the 55-300 because of speed. i don't have any first hand experience with the long lens but i have heard it is pretty slow for everyday use so if you don't have any other glass it may be annoying to have to deal with that big-ass slow(ish) lens. you can probably find both kit lenses at a camera shop and see if either suits you. a big thing to consider us weight. the 55-300 is pretty big.

aside from the 55-200 i bought a 30mm and 50mm prime lenses. you don't really need two but you should definately pick of one of these. the 50 is one of the cheapest lenses out there (not the 1.4) and it's super fast and tons of fun to shoot.

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I have both a 18-70 and 55-200 for my Sony and the 200 just isn't cutting it for me, hence the step up to the 300 with the Nikon. I do a lot of wildlife photography and for my safety and out of respect for the animals I keep my distance.

I do have a local camera shop that keeps a good inventory of new and used lenses I just haven't been by lately to see what they have.

I left my Nikon D70 and two lenses in a cab when I got back from my trip to Miami. Never got it back so just purchased a new Nikon D7000 so looking forward to using it. You will not be disappointed with the Nikon. I went with the AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR lense as it was a good all around lens to begin with. Have to start all over but plan on getting a zoom lens in the future.

Hope you enjoy it and look forward to seeing your pictures in the photography thread.

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Thanks for the info - sucks that you lost your other camera! I would be furious if mine ever got lost/stolen.

Your post reminded me of another issue too....going with a different brand I'm going to have to learn a whole new user interface...menu system...ughhh! Any recommendations for books or online tutorials? The owners manuals just seem to skim the surface and aren't really useful.

I also picked up a D5100 a couple months ago and I love it. It came with the 18-55 lens as a kit, and I got it on Amazon for less than $800. Get yourself familiar with shooting in all conditions in Manual mode and you will be a master. You'll get far better results than in any Auto mode, and you'll learn the ins and outs of your camera pretty quick. It only took me about 2 weeks to master manual settings, and this was my first DSLR.

It really depends on your budget. You get what you pay for. The only reason why Sony isn't preferred by "pros" is because like you said, they're not one of the leading companies...yet. Their A900 is a nice camera especially if you pair it with some Zeiss glass. What is your budget? I owned a Nikon D80 for 3 years and it was an awesome camera. It had really great white balance control and awesome picture quality (depending on the lens).

I would look at Nikon, Canon, Pentax and Olympus for lower end consumer cameras. Try to get a feel for each camera in person. That will really help your decision process go a lot smoother. Honestly, there are a ton of great cameras out there, you just have to figure out what you want in a camera.

Back in July/August I took a trip to Ireland. Before the trip I wanted to capture some awesome pictures but my point-and-shoot camera wasn't going to do the job. I bought a Nikon D7000 with the 18-200 telephoto lens in Costco for under 2K. I am not a professional protographer, far from it but I am very impressed with the type of pictures I took on my trip.

Sony Alpha is not bad either, one guy in Ireland told me that Nikon cameras have Sony components inside . They're all good cameras, it all comes down to how much you want to spend and buying the right camera for the right job. Also, no camera will make you a pro, you really have to do your homework and learn to use your camera. Go to a camera store and ask lots of questions, those guys are usually passionate about cameras and they can talk cameras all day just as we talk Tacomas = ].

One great lens is the tamron 18-270 .... Right now they have the 100.00 rebate going !!! Its a great do all lens for close up picture taking ( not extremely close ups ) and really good zoom !!! I use it with d3100 !!!